On December 15, author, activist, and professor bell hooks (née Gloria Jean Watkins) died at age 69, leaving behind a legacy of powerful words, critical thinking, and love.
“The family of Gloria Jean Watkins is deeply saddened at the passing of our beloved sister on December 15, 2021,” a statement penned by hooks’s family reads. “The family honored her request to transition at home with family and friends by her side.” The statement was shared publicly on Twitter by hooks’s niece Ebony Motley. According to The New York Times, hooks’s sister Gwenda Motley confirmed the cause of death was end-stage renal failure.
Born on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, hooks took on her pen name in 1978, when she published her first poetry collection, and there we wept. As the family shared in their statement, the moniker was a nod to her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. hooks’s pen name is intentionally stylized in all lower-case not only to differentiate her persona from her grandmother’s but also because she wanted the focus to be on the “substance of books, not who I am.” Her first book, Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism, was published in 1981.
With an oeuvre spanning more than 40 books, hooks is considered one of the leading voices in intersectional feminism. Her work also famously deals with topics such as romance, white supremacy, capitalism, politics, queerness, and gender roles—among others—with a special interest in the intersection of feminism, race, gender, and class. After news of hooks’s passing broke, many took to social media to share their condolences and highlight the importance of her work and the influence it had on them and society as a whole.
“The passing of bell hooks hurts, deeply,” professor and author Ibram X. Kendi wrote on Twitter in tribute to hooks. “At the same time, as a human being I feel so grateful she gave humanity so many gifts. AIN’T I A WOMAN: BLACK WOMEN AND FEMINISM is one of her many classics. And ALL ABOUT LOVE changed me. Thank you, bell hooks. Rest in our love.”
Writer Muna Mire wrote after learning the news, “bell hooks broke and changed the way i thought over and over again. how lucky to have read her and seen her speak over the years. how lucky to have been alive at the same time.”
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“bell hooks was an extraordinary writer, thinker, and scholar who gave us new language with which to make sense of the world around us,” The Atlantic’s Clint Smith shared. “Her work was imbued with a deep commitment to truth-telling, but also with a profound sense of care and love for community. She was a treasure.”
bell hooks Remembered After Death at 69
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